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Women prisoners behind pink bikie uniforms

Stephen Johnson

Convicted bikies in Queensland were told to wear pink uniforms, but female prisoners were doing the hard labour preparing them.

Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre inmates began printing "Correctional Centre Issue" on the outfits in November, a month after the idea was first floated in the media, right-to-information documents obtained by AAP show.

Convicted bikies will no longer be required to wear pink overalls or serve time in solitary confinement following a backflip by Premier Campbell Newman this week.

Eight months ago, the acting commissioner of Corrective Services, Mark Rallings, sent a memo to Department of Justice director-general John Sosso explaining how the female inmates had started producing shirts, shorts and overalls for criminal motorcycle gang (CMG) prisoners.

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"Some shirts have initially been sourced off the shelf in Australia," he wrote.

A special bikies-only jail was created at Woodford, north of Brisbane, in December.

"All CMG prisoners will wear high-visibility shirts, shorts and overalls in a bright pink colour," Mr Rallings said in his memo dated November 11.

The uniforms are no longer being produced but auction house Sotheby's said the items would be unlikely to become collector's items.